10 Cloverfield Lane Movie Review

This is a perfect example of a movie being much better when it doesn’t give away everything in its trailer and marketing.

I’m not going to give away too much about the plot because it makes the movie more enjoyable to not know much. However, the basic premise is that a young woman (John McClane’s daughter in Live Free or Die Hard) is saved kidnapped by a creepy doomsday prepper (John Goodman) after an accident. He takes her back to his bunker where he and another man (an actor whose name I don’t feel like looking up) reveal that an apocalyptic event has occurred and she can’t go outside without dying.

Let me get this out of the way first: This movie has nothing to do with the first Cloverfield movie. Don’t go in expecting any sort of sequel because you will be disappointed, and that would be unfortunate because the movie is actually really good. It’s a slow burn, tension building mystery movie that kept me guessing the whole time. I never had an idea where the movie was going, which was a fun change of pace from a lot of movies now. The acting is all phenomenal. It’s really only the 3 main characters and they all do a great job, particularly Goodman. The story is great with some awesome twists. You can definitely feel JJ Abrams’s mark on the movie, even though he was only a producer. The director is a newcomer who I feel like will end up doing great things in the future. He took a simple premise and turned it into a great thriller.

My main problem with the movie is the last act isn’t quite fleshed out enough, in my opinion. The ending feels a bit rushed. The movie would have benefited from being about 15 minutes longer. Other than that, I just had a couple more minor problems. For example, not all of the story points get completely resolved and I didn’t quite buy some of the things that happen, but I won’t spoil them here.

Overall the movie came out of nowhere and surprised me with how good it was. Anyone can go in and enjoy this movie, as long as you leave any expectations of seeing a Cloverfield sequel at the door. I’ll give 10 Cloverfield Lane a 4/5.

What did you think of 10 Cloverfield Lane? Let me know in the comments.